Factbox: Asian buyers of Russian oil, gas and coal

April 6, 202211:05 AM UTCUpdated ago

A gas station attendant pumps fuel into a customer's car at a gas station in Shanghai, China November 17, 2017. REUTERS/Aly Song/Files

April 6 (Reuters) - The European Commission on Tuesday proposed sweeping new sanctions against Russia, including banning Russian coal imports in retaliation for alleged civilian killings in Ukraine. read more

The sanctions may have implications for Asian countries dependent on Russia for oil, gas and coal. read more

Below are details on how Asian countries rely on oil, gas and coal from Russia.

CHINA

China accounts for 15.4% of Russia's total crude oil exports, with only Saudi Arabia selling it more. China is the world's top importer of Russian crude oil, buying an average of 1.59 million barrels per day (bpd) last year, or 15.5% of its total imports, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. read more

China receives about 40% of this via the 4,070-km (2,540-mile) East Siberia Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline.

Russia is also China's No. 3 gas supplier. China accounted for 6.7% of Russian natural gas exports in 2021. Russian exports to China totalled 16.5 billion cubic metres (bcm), or about 12.07 million tonnes in 2021, meeting roughly 5% of China's demand.

Russia was also China's No. 2 coal supplier in 2021. Reuters calculations based on customs data show China's Russian coal imports of 56.7 million tonnes last year made up 17.6% of its total imports of the fuel.

Russia supplied 96% of China's anthracite coal in 2021 and has a 20% share of Chinese coking coal imports, customs data showed. About 14% of China's thermal coal imports came from Russia in 2021.

SOUTH KOREA

Russia was South Korea's fourth-largest crude oil supplier in 2021 after Saudi Arabia, the United States and Kuwait. South Korea imported about 7.92 million tonnes of crude oil from Russia last year, worth about $4.27 billion, data from the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) showed.

South Korea also imported 2.87 million tonnes of gas from Russia last year, the KITA data showed, making it the country's sixth-largest supplier.

Russia was the second-largest coal exporter to South Korea in 2021 after Australia, shipping 21.95 million tonnes worth about $2.56 billion and accounting for 17.5% of South Korea’s total coal imports, the data showed. read more

South Korea imported $2.2 billion worth of bituminous coal from Russia in 2021, according to KITA data.

The country also imported $363 million worth of anthracite coal from Russia in 2021, which made up 41% of imports in terms of monetary value, behind 53% from Australia.

JAPAN

Russia was Japan's second-biggest supplier of thermal coal in 2021, making up 12.48% of its thermal coal imports, Japanese customs data showed.

In 2021, Russia accounted for 11% of Japan's total coal imports which stood at 183 million tonnes. Russia also made up 8% of Japan's coking coal imports, government data showed.

Russia was Japan’s fifth-biggest supplier of crude and liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2021, accounting for 3.63% and 8.84% of its total imports, respectively. read more

Japan accounted for 4.1% of Russia's crude oil exports and 7.2% of its natural gas exports.

VIETNAM

Russia was the third-largest coal exporter to Vietnam in 2021, after Australia and Indonesia. Its coal exports to Vietnam totalled 3.59 million tonnes in 2021, accounting for 9.9% of Vietnam’s total coal imports, Vietnam customs data showed.

The country did not import crude oil from Russia in 2021, but Vietnam’s state oil firm PetroVietnam has a 49% stake in an oil joint venture (Rusvietpetro) with Zarubezhneft in Russia’s Nenets Autonomous Region, which had produced 30 million tonnes of crude oil as of mid-2021 since its establishment in 2008.

INDIA

Russia is the sixth largest supplier of thermal coal to India.

India imported 1.8 million tonnes of thermal coal from Russia in 2021, down from 2.5 million in 2020, data from Iman Resources showed.

Russia's share in India's thermal coal imports fell to 1.3% in 2021 from 1.6%.

India imported 43,400 bpd oil from Russia in 2021, about 1% of overall its imports. read more

India accounts for about 0.2% Russia's natural gas exports. GAIL (India) Ltd (GAIL.NS) has a 20-year deal with Gazprom to buy 2.5 million tonnes of LNG a year which started in 2018.

Reporting by Beijing newsroom, Aizhu Chen in Singapore, Nidhi Verma and Sudarshan Varadhan in New Delhi, Heekyong Yang in Seoul, Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo and Khanh Vu in Hanoi Writing by Isabel Kua and Florence Tan Editing by Gavin Maguire, Jason Neely and Mark Potter